Free Horse Talk by Bonnie Bryant Page A

Missa,” Lisa said. “We could have talked to her after
Horse Talk
was over.”
    “It’s not your fault,” Carole said. “I thought she was a prank caller, too.”
    “We all did,” said Stevie.
    T HEY WENT BACK to Max’s office and asked if they could use the phone. First, they called Judy Barker. “I haven’t heard of any missing horses,” she said, “but I’ll call the other vets in the area if you’d like.” After that,they called the tack shop, the feed store, and a few of the other boarding stables in the area. All promised to ask around for news of a missing horse, but no one had heard of one so far.
    “That’s that,” Stevie said as she hung up the phone. “No missing horse.”
    “I guess it must have been a prank,” Lisa said. “At least we tried.”
    A T SCHOOL THE next morning, Mrs. Klemme stopped Carole and Lisa as they walked in the door together. “Nice job,” she said.
    Carole made a face. “You must be joking,” said Lisa.
    “I’m not,” Mrs. Klemme answered. “That couldn’t have been easy, and you two handled yourselves gracefully. Look at it this way:
Horse Talk
really has a lot of listeners!”
    “I’ll tell you how I’m looking at it,” Carole said. “Only one week left!” Mrs. Klemme gave them an understanding smile.
    O N F RIDAY NIGHT The Saddle Club had a sleepover at Lisa’s house. Carole arrived first, and she and Lisa were setting the dinner table when Stevie burst in, wild with excitement. “We’ve got to call Judy!” she said.
    “What happened?” Lisa cried.
    “Is one of the horses sick?” Carole asked. “Starlight?”
    “No!” Stevie threw down her overnight bag and grinned at them. “I just came from Pine Hollow. Judy left a message for us there. I tried to call her back already, but the line was busy. She found a missing horse! Our call was real!”

T HE GIRLS TRIED three times to reach Judy, but her phone was busy each time. Since it wasn’t an emergency, they didn’t want to beep her. Finally, just before supper, they reached Judy’s husband, who said that Judy was out on a call but would call them back at Lisa’s house when she returned.
    “He didn’t know any details,” Lisa said glumly, sliding into her place at the dinner table. The others nodded. After dinner they helped wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen. Still the phone didn’t ring.
    “Do you think we should try calling her again?” Stevie asked. They left the kitchen and went up to Lisa’s room. “Maybe Judy’s husband took Lisa’s phone number down wrong.”
    Lisa shook her head. “He repeated it to me. He said Judy would be a while.”
    “Maybe we should watch a video,” Carole suggested. “I’d say we should work on
Horse Talk
, but I don’t know what we could do.” Stevie nodded, and Lisa sighed. All the kids at both their schools had found the latest
Horse Talk
hilarious. Even the ones who clearly had no intention of calling in themselves, and who weren’t especially interested in embarrassing The Saddle Club, seemed to have listened and found all the stupid questions amusing.
    “The joke I keep hearing is, ‘How is a cow like a squirrel? They’re both on
Horse Talk
!” ’ said Lisa.
    Carole rolled her eyes. “Every time I walk into my homeroom, three of the guys who sit in back yell, ‘
Horse Talk
! It’s Carole!’ I’m about to punch them in the nose.”
    “We sure don’t need to write out any more questions,” added Stevie. “I’ve still got all the ones from last week. I didn’t get to use any of them.”
    “You’ll be lucky if you use any this week, too,” Lisa said. “I have a feeling we’ll get just as many calls.” She slumped into her armchair. “I never thought
Horse Talk
would be this popular. And I never thought I’d be sorry that it was.”
    Carole shook her head. “You shouldn’t feel sorry—”
    “Chad is such a jerk,” interjected Stevie.
    “—and if we find a missing horse—” continued Carole.
    “We